
Zaha Hadid has unveiled designs for a private house in Barvikha Forest close to Moscow. The project was unveiled at the MIPIM property fair in Cannes last week.
Below are pictures and a project description provided by Hadid’s office.



– BARVIKHA [MOSCOW, RUSSIA]
2006-TBC
CLIENT: Capital HillARCHITECT: Design Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher; Project Architect [Initial Stage] Tetsuya Yamazaki; Project Team Mariana Ibanez, Daniel Fiser, Marco Vanucci, Lourdes Sanchez, Ebru Simsek
Structural Engineering Ove Arup & Partners, Enka
The project is located on a north-facing hillside in Barvikha, Russia, within the pine and birch forest where the trees can reach a height of 20m.
The programme of the villa is divided into two main components. The first, lower component is merged with the sloped landscape, while a separate volume floats, 22 meters above the ground to benefit from the panoramic views above the treetops of the Barvikha forest.
The form for the villa comes from the natural topography of the unique site. Adapting the fluid geometries described within the geology of the site and the organic forms of the forest’s vegetation, the building emerges from the landscape, remaining partially embedded in the hillside, in order to articulate the existing surroundings with the artificial landscape.
This concept of organic inter-articulation leads to an intricately layered spatial formation that presents itself as a unifi ed whole with each component referring to its local topography.
The general concept for the design of the villa responds to a strategy that extends the exterior topography to the interior of the building, while its geometrical definition is derived from the surrounding environment of flowing terrain levels that are stretched to generate the new landscape, proposing a continuous integration between interior and exterior spaces.
The program of the villa is organized vertically on four levels. The lower level is envisioned as leisure space with a living room, massage and fitness areas as well as sauna and steam rooms. One level up on the ground floor, the main living room, dining, kitchen, entertainment, indoor swimming room and car parking spaces are located.
The main entrance lobby, study/library, guest room and children’s room are on the first floor, while the master bedrooms and a lounge with exterior terrace occupy the upper level.
The two main components of the house are articulated by three ‘legs’. These concrete columns establish a strong dialogue between both levels whilst also functioning as the primary structural elements of the villa. Between these columns are the vertical shafts required to place all mechanical elements and services connecting to the upper level.
The vertical circulation of the house - a transparent glass elevator and staircase - are also incorporated between these columns, providing a direct connection between the lower and the upper levels.
The main entrance to the house is located on the first floor. Within this grand entrance, the three concrete columns intersect the main roof, introducing slices for skylights and a double-height space.
The views from the living room are continued from beyond the grand staircase in the entrance lobby, are framed by double-curvature, in-situ cast concrete structures. These concrete structures serve both a structural purpose as well as dividing the main living room, dining room and indoor swimming pool. The major materials proposed for this project are pre-cast and in-situ cast concrete, steel and glass. To give the interior spaces a sense of fluid continuity, these materials are repeated throughout the villa.
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Posted by Marcus Fairs




March 18th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Truly breathtaking.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Looks quite stupid actually. Smooth or collage? duh… just blend in Rhino..
March 27th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Who did he design it for, the next bond villain ??
March 27th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Projected cost?
March 27th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
mega stars architecture.
images, images,images.
congratulations zaha! I love your bank account!
March 28th, 2007 at 12:22 am
He is a She actually.
March 28th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Aliens have landed near Moscow
Another design that allows non-architects to rightfully mock us. The archibabble that explains it is even worse than the building. I am embarrassed to be an architect with such drivel!
March 30th, 2007 at 3:41 am
this century’s monument?
March 30th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Self-indulgent, unprincipled sci-fi influenced modernism.
Zaha Hadid may be gifted, but lives in a timewarp and should know better than to work for neo-stalinist apparatchiks.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:22 am
zaha should design sth for nasa…
April 5th, 2007 at 9:36 am
seriously. seriously. seriously? ewww… 3 headed snake/ creature anyone?
April 7th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Conceptually sounds like a MARSian Idea
Breathtaking on paper !!.
Utilititywise - wonder whether it is worth the effort
April 11th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Too many rubbles may result in way too much dacha! 3 “Prouns” break through a rather grand glazed “whathaveyou”.
Almost makes it as a 21st Century remake of the tiny but exciting Eisteinturm, Potzdam 1920/21 by Erik Mendelsohn.
Hadid reminds me of F.L.Wright; if she’s not careful she’ll end up a purveyor of gelatinized kitsch. She can do much better.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Are those gulag watchtowers?
April 16th, 2007 at 8:44 am
wow…is that really a house….its really one of a kind house….
April 30th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
dear dear! what a grotesque structure, poor russians lol
June 13th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Amazing, wonderfull, espectacular, drawind with design!!???
June 21st, 2007 at 7:12 am
excellent,,
that perfect c
ompbination between contextual,
environment, and technology
June 28th, 2007 at 6:42 am
por favor pasen links de zaha hadid mi mail es limadoooo@hotmail.com
gracias soy un gran fanatico de ella
saludos desde Mendoza - Argentina
July 1st, 2007 at 7:16 pm
what is this???
povera architettura. Ciao Ciao
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 am
it’s amaizing! i love it!
October 25th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
hi miss zaha how r ya am really glad to see one of ur project it is wonderfull am an iraqyan student in architecture studyin in syria can ya give me the map of this villa plz to make my college project